Revamped bridge makes the journey worthwhile

By Chantal Rumble

THEY ARE called The Travellers - a series of giant steel sculptures sliding quietly across the Yarra, depicting the waves of immigrants who have journeyed to make Melbourne their home.

Yesterday, a crowd of onlookers and traditional owners gathered in a fug of eucalyptus smoke as the striking public sculpture was launched on the refurbished Sandridge Rail Bridge.

It is part of the $18.5 million development of the Sandridge Bridge precinct, funded by the City of Melbourne and the State Government, which includes the Queensbridge precinct, a plaza on the south bank and a youth precinct on the north bank of the Yarra.

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Unveiled just three days from the start of the Commonwealth Games, the sculpture is an ode to the much-maligned notion of multiculturalism.

"They are of different cultures, they are of different places and they come to meet on the bridge. That's how Melbourne is," Lebanese artist Nadim Karam said of his giant figurines.

Nine of the 10 sculptures, fixed to a bogie system to cross the river three times a day, represent Australian immigration from the convict and gold rush periods through to the refugee and professional newcomers of today.

The final sculpture, which represents Victoria's Aboriginal communities, is stationed permanently on the river bank.

"The Travellers on the bridge depict everybody who has come to Australia, with the exception of our mob, folks - we were here already," Koori Heritage Trust former CEO Jim Berg told the crowd after a cleansing ceremony.

The location of the work is also symbolic - it is at the point in the river where fresh and salt water combine, where Aboriginal communities once met and where John Batman later chose to build the city of Melbourne.

And, fixed to the Sandridge Rail Bridge, it follows the old rail route from the port to Flinders Street, tracing the path on which thousands of immigrants made their first journey on Australian soil.

The historic bridge, built in 1888 by David Munro with the help of Sir John Monash, formed part of Australia's first railway line and is one of the earliest examples of steel bridge girders on the Victorian rail system.

It was closed in 1987 and left to rust, becoming an eyesore on the Yarra and causing much debate about its future.

Its fate was sealed in October 2003 when the State Government and the City of Melbourne agreed to jointly fund its redevelopment.